“The time's gone by for sentiment and all that foolery. Mercy's all very well but after all it's justice that clinches the bargain.”

“Fancies were all very well for a change, but must be only occasional guests in a world devoted to reality.”

“We are *all* we are, and all in a sense we care to dream we are. And for that matter, anything outlandish, bizarre, is a godsend in this rather stodgy life. It is after all just what the old boy said – it's only the impossible that's credible; whatever credible may mean...”

“Now that cleverness was the fashion most people were clever – even perfect fools; and cleverness after all was often only a bore: all head and no body.”

“Yes, after all, this by now was his customary loneliness: there was little else he desired for the present than the hospitality of the dark.”

“Who said, 'All Time's delightHath she for narrow bed;Life's troubled bubble broken'? ---That's what I said.”

“After all, what is every man? A horde of ghosts – like a Chinese nest of boxes – oaks that were acorns that were oaks. Death lies behind us, not in front – in our ancestors, back and back until...”